The Lord Rogers of Riverside
Rogers (left) with Queen Elizabeth II and Sue Essex AM (right), at the opening of the Senedd building in Cardiff, Wales.
Born	(1933-07-23) 23 July 1933 (age 78) Florence, Italy
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Architectural Association School of Architecture, Yale School of Architecture
Awards	RIBA Gold Medal (1985) Thomas Jefferson Medal (1999) Stirling Prize (2006), (2009) Minerva Medal (2007) Pritzker Prize (2007)
Work
Practice	Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
Buildings	Centre Georges Pompidou Lloyd's building Millennium Dome European Court of Human Rights Madrid-Barajas Airport terminal 4 London Heathrow terminal 5
Projects	Towards an Urban Renaissance Grand Paris

Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside CH Kt FRIBA FCSD (born 23 July 1933) is a British architect noted for his modernist and functionalist designs.

Rogers is perhaps best known for his work on the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Lloyd's building and Millennium Dome both in London, and the European Court of Human Rights building in Strasbourg. He is a winner of the RIBA Gold Medal, the Thomas Jefferson Medal, the RIBA Stirling Prize, the Minerva Medal and Pritzker Prize.

Early life and career[link]

Lloyd's building in 1991

Rogers was born in Florence in 1933 and attended the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, before graduating with a master's degree from the Yale School of Architecture in 1962.^[1] While studying at Yale, Rogers met fellow architecture student Norman Foster and planning student Su Brumwell. On returning to England he, Foster and Brumwell set up architectural practice as Team 4 with Wendy Cheeseman (Brumwell later married Rogers, Cheeseman married Foster).^[2] Rogers and Foster earned a reputation for what was later termed by the media high-tech architecture.^[3]

By 1967, Team 4 had split up, but Rogers continued to collaborate with Su Rogers, along with John Young and Laurie Abbott.^[4] In early 1968 he was commissioned to design a house and studio for Humphrey Spender near Maldon, Essex, a glass cube framed with I-beams. He continued to develop his ideas of prefabrication and structural simplicity to design a Wimbledon house for his parents. This was based on ideas from his conceptual 'Zip Up' house,^[5] such as the use of standardised components based on refrigerator panels to make energy-efficient buildings. Rogers subsequently joined forces with Italian architect Renzo Piano, a partnership that was to prove fruitful. His career leapt forward when he and Piano won the design competition for the Pompidou Centre in July 1971, alongside a team from Ove Arup that included Irish engineer Peter Rice.

This building established Rogers's trademark of exposing most of the building's services (water, heating and ventilation ducts, and stairs) on the exterior, leaving the internal spaces uncluttered and open for visitors to the centre's art exhibitions. This style, dubbed "Bowellism" by some critics, was not universally popular at the time the centre opened in 1977, but today the Pompidou Centre is a widely admired Parisian landmark. Rogers revisited this inside-out style with his design for London's Lloyd's building, completed in 1986 - another controversial design which has since become a famous and distinctive landmark in its own right.

Later career[link]

Aerial view of the Millennium Dome

Senedd, National Assembly for Wales

Madrid-Barajas Airport terminal 4

After working with Piano, Rogers established the Richard Rogers Partnership along with Marco Goldschmied, Mike Davies and John Young in 1977.^[6] This became Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners in 2007. The firm maintains offices in London, Barcelona, Madrid, and Tokyo.

Rogers has devoted much of his later career to wider issues surrounding architecture, urbanism, sustainability and the ways in which cities are used. One early illustration of his thinking was an exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1986, entitled "London As It Could Be", which also featured the work of James Stirling and Rogers' former partner Norman Foster. This exhibition made public a series of proposals for transforming a large area of central London, subsequently dismissed as impractical by the city's authorities.

In 1995, he became the first architect to deliver the BBC's annual Reith Lectures. This series of five talks, titled Sustainable City, were later adapted into the book Cities for a Small Planet (Faber and Faber: London 1997, ISBN 0-571-17993-2). The BBC made these lectures available to the public for download in July, 2011.^[7]

In 1998, he set up the Urban Task Force at the invitation of the British government, to help identify causes of urban decline and establish a vision of safety, vitality and beauty for Britain's cities. This work resulted in a white paper, Towards an Urban Renaissance, outlining more than 100 recommendations for future city designers. Rogers also served for several years as chair of the Greater London Authority panel for Architecture and Urbanism. He resigned from this post in 2009.^[8] He has been Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Architecture Foundation. From 2001 to 2008 he was chief advisor on architecture and urbanism to Mayor of London Ken Livingstone; he was subsequently asked to continue his role as an advisor by new mayor Boris Johnson in 2008. He stood down from the post in October 2009. Rogers has also served as an advisor to the mayor of Barcelona on urban strategies.

Amidst this extra-curricular activity, Rogers has continued to create controversial and iconic works. Perhaps the most famous of these, the Millennium Dome, was designed by the Rogers practice in conjunction with engineering firm Buro Happold and completed in 1999. It was the subject of fierce political and public debate over the cost and contents of the exhibition it contained, although the building itself cost only £43 million.^[9]

In May 2006, Rogers' practice was chosen as the architect of Tower 3 of the new World Trade Center in New York City, replacing the old World Trade Center which was destroyed in the September 11 attacks.

Some of Rogers' recent plans have failed to get off the ground. The practice was appointed to design the replacement to the Central Library in the Eastside of Birmingham; however, his plan was shelved for financial reasons. City Park Gate, the area adjacent to the land the library would have stood on, is now being designed by Ken Shuttleworth's MAKE Architects.

Selected projects[link]

Team 4[link]

• Creek Vean, Cornwall, UK (1966)
• Reliance Controls factory, Swindon, UK (1967)

Richard and Su Rogers, with John Young and Laurie Abbott[link]

• 22 Parkside (Dr. Nino and Dada Rogers' house), Wimbledon, London, UK (1967)^[10]
• Zip Up house (1968)
• Humphrey Spender's house, Maldon, UK (1967–1968)

Piano + Rogers[link]

• Universal Oil Products, Tadworth, UK (1969–1974)
• B&B Italia headquarters, Como, Italy (1972–1973)^[11]
• Pompidou Centre, Paris, France (1971–77)
• IRCAM, Paris, France (1971–1977)
• Patscentre Research Laboratory, Melbourn, UK (1976–1983)

The Richard Rogers Partnership[link]

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners[link]

Las Arenas, Barcelona

Palmas Altas in Seville, buildings F and G

• London Heathrow Terminal 5, London, UK (1989–2008) Image Gallery of Heathrow Terminal 5
• Maggie's Centre, London, UK (2001–2008)
• Bodegas Protos, Peñafiel, Valladolid, Spain (2008)
• Central Park Station (R9), Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit system, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan (2003–2007)
• 300 New Jersey Avenue, Washington, D.C., USA (2004–2009)
• Ching Fu Group Headquarters, Kaohsiung, Taiwan (2005–2007)
• Campus Palmas Altas Seville, Spain; Abengoa's Headquarters (2005–2009)
• 175 Greenwich Street, New York, USA (2006-)
• Capodichino Underground Station, Naples, Italy (2006-)
• Santa Maria del Pianto Underground Station, Naples, Italy (2006-)
• British Museum, Northwest Development, London, UK (2007-)
• 360-London (2007-)
• Greater Paris / Grand Paris, France (2008-)
• Oxley Woods, Milton Keynes, UK; Government-sponsored 'Design for Manufacture (DfM)' competition (completion expected 2010)
• Las Arenas, Barcelona, remodeling of the bullring into a shopping mall (opened March, 2011^[13])
• One Hyde Park, London (2007–2010)
• Leadenhall building, London, UK (completion expected 2012-2014)
• Neo Bankside, London, UK (completion expected 2012)^[14] [1]
• New city centre and tram station in Scandicci, Italy (2007-)
• Barangaroo, Sydney, Australia (2009-) [2]

Honours and awards[link]

Rogers was knighted in 1981 by Queen Elizabeth II. He was created Baron Rogers of Riverside in 1996. He sits as a Labour peer in the House of Lords.^[15] Rogers was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in the 2008 Birthday Honours list.

Rogers was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1985 and made a Chevalier, L’Ordre National de la Légion d'honneur in 1986. He received a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 10th Mostra di Architettura di Venezia.^[16] In 2006, the Richard Rogers Partnership was awarded the Stirling Prize for Terminal 4 of Barajas Airport,^[17] and again in 2009 for Maggie's Centre in London.^[18] In 2007 Rogers was made Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize - architecture's highest honour.^[19] He was awarded the Minerva Medal by the Chartered Society of Designers in the same year.

Rogers has been awarded honorary degrees from several universities, including Alfonso X El Sabio University in Madrid, Oxford Brookes University, the University of Kent, the Czech Technical University in Prague and the Open University. In 1994, he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) by the University of Bath.^[20]

Palestine controversy[link]

In February 2006, Lord Rogers hosted the inaugural meeting of the campaigning organisation Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine (APJP) in his London offices. At that time his practice had secured a number of projects in New York, including the redevelopment of the Silvercup Studios site, a masterplan for the East River Waterfront and a commission for a $1.7 billion expansion of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Centre in Manhattan. Rogers publicly dissociated himself from the group within weeks, however, following the widely expressed public sentiment from generally pro-Israeli New York voters and politicians, which threatened him with the loss of prestigious commissions including projects in New York and abroad.^[21] He announced his withdrawal with the statement "I unequivocally renounce Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine and have withdrawn my relationship with them."^[22]

Rogers at first said he was dissociating himself from APJP because of its published aims and "in view of the suggested boycott (of Israeli companies) by some members", although APJP denied it was promoting such a boycott. Rogers subsequently hardened his line, coming out with statements defending Israel's right to build its separation wall. He described the Israel-Palestine conflict as being between a "terrorist" state and a "democratic" one and said that he was "all for the democratic state".

Family[link]

Rogers is married to Ruth Rogers, chef and co-owner of The River Café restaurant in west London. They have two sons together, Roo and Bo. He also has three sons, Ben, Zad and Ab, from his first marriage to Su Brumwell. He has ten grandchildren.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Richard Rogers

• Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners website
• Richard Rogers at the archINFORM database
• Large list of major Richard Rogers skyscrapers with data and images
• Rogers, Stirk, Harbour and Partners projects portfolio
• Pritzker Prize 2007
• Interview with Richard Rogers (video)
• Images of Tower 3 (images)
• Richard Rogers presents the 2007 Annual Discourse at the Royal Institute of British Architects (video)

• The 1995 BBC Reith Lectures: Sustainable City by Richard Rogers

Renzo Piano
Piano in 2007
Born	(1937-09-14) 14 September 1937 (age 74) Genoa, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Alma mater	Politecnico di Milano
Awards	Pritzker Architecture Prize AIA Gold Medal Sonning Prize Royal Gold Medal Kyoto Prize
Work
Practice	Renzo Piano Building Workshop
Buildings	Centre Georges Pompidou Parco della Musica Shard London Bridge

Nemo Science Centre in Amsterdam. The shape reflects the tunnel entrance it is built on

The Living Roof of the California Academy of Sciences, a museum and research facility in San Francisco, California

Kansai International Airport, Osaka, Japan (1991–1994)

Central Saint Giles, London, England (2010)

Renzo Piano, Ufficiale OMRI (born 14 September 1937 in Genoa) is an Italian Pritzker Prize-winning architect. Architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff said of Piano's works that the "...serenity of his best buildings can almost make you believe that we live in a civilized world."^[1]

In 2006, Piano was selected by TIME as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.^[2] He was selected as the 10th most influential person in the "Arts and Entertainment" category of the 2006 Time 100.

Biography[link]

Piano was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1937 into a family of builders. He was educated and subsequently taught at the Politecnico di Milano. He graduated from the University in 1964 and began working with experimental lightweight structures and basic shelters.^[3] From 1965 to 1970 he worked with Louis Kahn and Z.S. Makowsky. He worked together with Richard Rogers from 1971 to 1977; their most famous joint project is the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (1977). He also had a long collaboration with the engineer Peter Rice, with whom he shared a practice (L'Atelier Piano and Rice) between 1977 and 1981.

In 1981, Piano founded the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, which today employs 150 people and maintains offices in Paris, Genoa, and New York.^[4]

In 1999, Piano designed a watch entitled "Jelly Piano (GZ159)" for the Swatch Summer Collection. The watch design is clear and the exposed inner workings were influenced by his Centre Georges Pompidou design.^[5]

On 18 March 2008, he became an honorary citizen of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[6]

Piano's recent expansion of the Art Institute of Chicago includes a 264,000-square-foot (24,500 m²) wing with 60,000 square feet (5,600 m²) of gallery space^[7] called the Modern Wing, which opened on 16 May 2009.^[1][8] It includes a "flying carpet", a sunscreen that hovers above the roof and a 620-foot (190 m) steel bridge connecting Millennium Park to a sculpture terrace that leads into a restaurant on the wing’s third floor.^[9]

Select projects[link]

Current[link]

• ARS AEVI Museum of Contemporary Art^[10] in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (1999–)^[11]
• Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Tjuvholmen, Oslo, Norway (2002–)^[12]
• Centro de Arte Botín, Santander, Spain (2011–)
• City Gate, Royal Opera House, Parliament of Malta, and Freedom Square, Valletta, Malta (2009–)
• Columbia University Manhattanville Campus Master Plan and Jerome L. Greene Science Center, New York, New York (2004–)
• Harvard Art Museums expansion and renovation, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2009–)
• Kimbell Art Museum expansion, Fort Worth, Texas (2008–)
• KT Corporation headquarters, Seoul, South Korea (2011–)
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California (2003–)
• Pathé Foundation headquarters, Paris, France (2006–)
• Renzo Piano Tower I & II, San Francisco, California (2006–)
• Sesto San Giovanni masterplan, Milan, Italy (2004–)
• Shard London Bridge, London, England (2000–)^[13]
• Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, Athens, Greece (2008–)
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York (2005–)

Completed[link]

• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum wing, Boston, Massachusetts (2005–2012)
• Central Saint Giles, London, England (2010)
• Modern Wing expansion of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (2009)
• Nichols Bridgeway, Chicago, Illinois (2009)
• California Academy of Sciences rebuilding, San Francisco, California (2008)
• Vulcano Buono, Nola, Italy (2007)
• The New York Times Building, New York, New York (2003–2007)
• Rocca di Frassinello Winery, Gavorrano, Italy (2002–2007)
• Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland (1999–2005)
• The Morgan Library & Museum expansion, New York, New York (2003–2006)
• Cité Internationale, Lyon, France (1995–2006)
• Weltstadthaus, Cologne, Germany (2005)
• High Museum of Art Expansion, Atlanta, Georgia (2005)
• Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy (2004)
• Il Sole 24 Ore headquarters, Milan, Italy (1998–2004)
• Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas (1999–2003)
• Parco della Musica, Rome, Italy (2002)
• Maison Hermès, Tokyo, Japan (2001)
• Auditorium Paganini, Parma, Italy (2001)
• Aurora Place, Sydney, Australia (1996–2000)
• Potsdamer Platz master plan, Berlin, Germany (1992–2000)
• Ferrari wind tunnel, Maranello, Italy (1996–1998)
• Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center, Nouméa, New Caledonia (1991–1998)
• Ushibuka Haiya Bridge, Amakusa, Japan (1991–1997)
• Beyeler Foundation Museum, Basel, Switzerland (1991–1997)
• NEMO science museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (1997)
• Cy Twombly Gallery, Houston, Texas (1995)
• International Terminal, Kansai International Airport, Osaka, Japan (1991–1994)
• Stadio San Nicola, Bari, Italy (1988–1989)
• Menil Collection, Houston, Texas (1982–1987)
• Banca CIS building, Cagliari, Sardinia (1985)
• IBM Travelling Pavilion, (1982–1984)
• IRCAM & the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (1971–1977)

Cancelled[link]

• City Tech Tower, New York, New York
• Trans National Place, Boston, Massachusetts

Awards[link]

Cavaliere di Gran Croce Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, 24 March 1990^[14]
Italian Order of Merit for Culture and Art, 28 March 1994^[14]

• In 1989, Piano was the recipient of the Royal Gold Medal.
• In 1990, Piano was the recipient of the Kyoto Prize.
• In 1998, Piano was the recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
• In 2008, Piano was the recipient of the AIA Gold Medal.
• In 2008, Piano was the recipient of the Sonning Prize.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Renzo Piano

• Official website
• Pritzker Architecture Prize biography
• Profile at GreatBuildings.com

Lorenz Hart
Lorenz Hart (right) with Richard Rodgers in 1936.
Background information
Birth name	Lorenz Milton Hart
Born	(1895-05-02)May 2, 1895 New York City, New York, USA
Died	November 22, 1943(1943-11-22) (aged 48) New York City, New York, USA
Genres	Musical theatre
Occupations	Composer, songwriter, playwright
Years active	1919–1943

Lorenz Milton Hart (May 2, 1895 – November 22, 1943) was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. Some of his more famous lyrics include "Blue Moon," "Mountain Greenery," "The Lady Is a Tramp," "Manhattan," "Where or When," "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered," "Falling in Love with Love," "My Funny Valentine," "I Could Write a Book", "This Can't Be Love", "With a Song in My Heart", "It Never Entered My Mind", and "Isn't It Romantic?".

Life and career[link]

Hart was born in Harlem, the older of two sons, to Jewish immigrant parents, Max M. and Frieda (Isenberg) Hart, of German background. His father, a business promoter, sent Hart and his brother to private schools. (His brother, Teddy Hart, also went into theater and became a musical comedy star. His wife, Dorothy Hart, wrote a biography of Lorenz Hart.)^[1]

Hart attended Columbia University School of Journalism for two years.^[1] A friend introduced him to Richard Rodgers, and the two joined forces to write songs for a series of amateur and student productions.^[1]

By 1918, Hart was working for the Shubert brothers, partners in theater, translating German plays into English.^[1] In 1919, his and Rodgers' song "Any Old Place With You" was included in the Broadway musical comedy A Lonely Romeo. In 1920, 6 of their songs were used in the musical comedy "Poor Little Ritz Girl." They were hired to write the score for the 1925 Theatre Guild production The Garrick Gaieties, the success of which brought them acclaim.

Rodgers and Hart subsequently wrote the music and lyrics for 26 Broadway musicals during a more-than-20-year partnership that ended only with Hart's early death. Their "big four" were Babes in Arms, The Boys From Syracuse (the first adaptation of a Shakespeare play for musical theater), Pal Joey, and On Your Toes. The Rodgers and Hart songs have been described as intimate and destined for long lives outside the theater.^[2] Many of their songs are standard repertoire for singers and jazz instrumentalists. Notable singers who have performed and recorded their songs have included Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Blossom Dearie, and Carly Simon.^[2] Hart has been called "the expressive bard of the urban generation which matured during the interwar years."^[1]

They wrote music and lyrics for several films, including Love Me Tonight (1932), The Phantom President (1932), Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (1933), and Mississippi (1935).^[3] With their successes, during the Great Depression Hart was earning $60,000 annually, and he became a magnet for many people. He gave numerous large parties. Beginning in 1938, he traveled more often and suffered from his drinking.^[4] He was much affected by his mother's death in late April 1943.

Rodgers and Hart teamed a final time in the fall of 1943 for a revival of A Connecticut Yankee. Hart had taken off the night of the opening and was gone for two days. He was found ill in a hotel room and taken to the hospital but died in a few days.^[1] After Hart's death, Rodgers collaborated with Oscar Hammerstein, with whom earlier that year he had created the hit musical Oklahoma!.

Musical style[link]

According to Thomas Hischak, Hart "had a remarkable talent for polysyllabic and internal rhymes",^[5] and his lyrics have often been praised for their wit and technical sophistication.

According to Stephen Holden, a writer in The New York Times, "Many of Hart's ballad lyrics conveyed a heart-stopping sadness that reflected his conviction that he was physically too unattractive to be lovable."^[6] The New York Times writer also noted that "In his lyrics, as in his life, Hart stands as a compellingly lonely figure. Although he wrote dozens of songs that are playful, funny and filled with clever wordplay, it is the rueful vulnerability beneath their surface that lends them a singular poignancy."^[2]

Personal life[link]

For years Hart was a bachelor and lived with his widowed mother. He suffered from alcoholism. He would sometimes disappear for weeks at a time on alcoholic binges.^[1]

Holden writes:

Hart suffered from depression throughout his life. His erratic behavior was often the cause of friction between him and Rodgers and led to a breakup of their partnership in 1943 before his death. Rodgers then began collaborating with Oscar Hammerstein II.

Hart died in New York City of pneumonia from exposure on November 22, 1943, after drinking heavily.^[7] He is buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Queens County, New York. The circumstances of his life were heavily edited and romanticized for the 1948 MGM biopic Words and Music.

Selected stage works[link]

• 1925 The Garrick Gaieties
• 1927 A Connecticut Yankee, based on the Mark Twain novel
• 1928 Present Arms
• 1935 Jumbo
• 1936 On Your Toes
• 1937 Babes in Arms
• 1938 The Boys from Syracuse, based on William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors
• 1938 I Married an Angel
• 1938 Too Many Girls
• 1940 Higher and Higher
• 1940 Pal Joey, based on John O'Hara's work
• 1942 By Jupiter

Notable songs[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Hart, Dorothy. Thou Swell, Thou Witty: The Life and Lyrics of Lorenz Hart, New York: Harper & Row, 1976.
• Nolan, Frederick W. Lorenz Hart: A Poet on Broadway. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
• Marx, Samuel, and Jan Clayton. Rodgers & Hart: Bewitched, Bothered, and Bedeviled: An Anecdotal Account, New York: Putnam, 1976.
• Friends of the USC Libraries. The Hart of the Matter: A Celebration of Lorenz Hart, September 30, 1973. [Los Angeles]: Friends of the USC Libraries, University of Southern California, 1973.

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lorenz Hart

• Lorenz Hart at the Internet Movie Database
• Lorenz Hart at the Internet Broadway Database
• Lorenz Hart at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• That Old Feeling:Heart to Hart- Time Magazine essay
• Bio from Songwriters Hall of Fame
• Databases for information about and lyrics by Lorenz Hart

Johnny Ace (June 9, 1929 – December 25, 1954), born John Marshall Alexander, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, was an American rhythm and blues singer. He scored a string of hit singles in the mid-1950s before dying of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Career[link]

Alexander's father was a preacher in Tennessee. After serving in the navy during the Korean War, Alexander joined Adolph Duncan's Band as a pianist. He then joined the B. B. King band. Soon King departed for Los Angeles and vocalist Bobby Bland joined the army. Alexander took over vocal duties and renamed the band The Beale Streeters, also taking over King's WDIA radio show.

Becoming "Johnny Ace", he signed to Duke Records (originally a Memphis label associated with WDIA) in 1952. Urbane 'heart-ballad' "My Song," his first recording, topped the R&B charts for nine weeks in September.^[1] ("My Song" was covered in 1968 by Aretha Franklin, on the flipside of "See Saw".)

Ace began heavy touring, often with Willa Mae "Big Mama" Thornton. In the next two years, he had eight hits in a row, including "Cross My Heart," "Please Forgive Me," "The Clock," "Yes, Baby," "Saving My Heart for You," and "Never Let Me Go."^[2] In December, 1954 he was named the Most Programmed Artist Of 1954 after a national DJ poll organized by U.S. trade weekly Cash Box.^[3]

Ace's recordings sold very well for those times. Early in 1955, Duke Records announced that the three 1954 Johnny Ace recordings, along with Thornton's "Hound Dog", had sold more than 1,750,000 records.

Death[link]

After touring for a year, Ace had been performing at the City Auditorium in Houston, Texas on Christmas 1954. During a break between sets, he was playing with a .22 cal revolver. Members of his band said he did this often, sometimes shooting at roadside signs from their car.

It was widely reported that Ace killed himself playing Russian roulette.^[4][5] Big Mama Thornton's bass player Curtis Tillman, however, who witnessed the event, said, "I will tell you exactly what happened! Johnny Ace had been drinking and he had this little pistol he was waving around the table and someone said ‘Be careful with that thing…’ and he said ‘It’s okay! Gun’s not loaded…see?’ and pointed it at himself with a smile on his face and ‘Bang!’ – sad, sad thing. Big Mama ran outta that dressing room yelling ‘Johnny Ace just killed himself!"^[6]

Thornton said in a written statement (included in the book The Late Great Johnny Ace) that Ace had been playing with the gun, but not playing Russian roulette. According to Thornton, Ace pointed the gun at his girlfriend and another woman who were sitting nearby, but did not fire. He then pointed the gun toward himself. The gun went off, shooting him in the side of the head.

According to Nick Tosches, Ace actually shot himself with a .32 pistol, not a .22, and it happened only a little more than an hour after he had bought a brand new 1955 Oldsmobile.^[7]

Ace's funeral was on January 9, 1955, at Memphis' Clayborn Temple AME church. It was attended by an estimated 5000 people.^[8]

"Pledging My Love" became a posthumous R&B #1 hit for ten weeks beginning February 12, 1955. As Billboard bluntly put it, Ace's death "created one of the biggest demands for a record that has occurred since the death of Hank Williams just over two years ago." ^[9] His single sides were compiled and released as The Johnny Ace Memorial Album.

Tributes[link]

Bob Dylan and Joan Baez performed "Never Let Me Go" on the Rolling Thunder Revue Tour late in 1975.

Elvis Presley covered "Pledging My Love" on his last studio session in 1976. The song appeared on the Moody Blue album in 1977 at the time of his death.

Paul Simon wrote and performed the song "The Late Great Johnny Ace", in which a boy, upon hearing of the death of Ace, orders a photograph of the deceased singer, describing: "It came all the way from Texas / With a sad and simple face / And they signed it on the bottom / From the Late Great Johnny Ace."

David Allan Coe covered "Pledging My Love", introducing the song with his own recollections of hearing the news of Ace's death.

Johnny Ace is also namechecked by Root Boy Slim in "House Band in Hell" as well as by Dash Rip Rock in the song "Johnny Ace".^[10]

Ace's song "Pledging My Love" appears in the 1973 Martin Scorsese film Mean Streets and John Carpenter's 1983 movie Christine, based on Stephen King's novel. The song also appears in the Abel Ferrara film Bad Lieutenant. The song also appears in the movie "Back To the Future" It is playing in the background of the scene with Marty and his mother in the yellow car. It is, however not credited.

The Teen Queens song "Eddie My Love" was originally titled "Johnny My Love" and was written in Johnny's memory.

the Swiss Singer Polo Hofer and the Schmetterband wrote the Song ``Johnny Ace`` in 1985 - it was released on the album Giggerig.

Dave Alvin's 2011 release, Eleven Eleven, contains a song describing his death, called "Johnny Ace is Dead."

Discography[link]

Singles[link]

Original singles issued by Duke Records

• "My Song" / "Follow the Rule" (1952)
• "Cross My Heart" / "Angel" (1953)
• "The Clock" / "Aces Wild" (1953)
• "Midnight Hours Journey" / "Trouble and Me" (1954)
• "Saving My Love For You" / "Yes, Baby" (duet with Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton) (1954)
• "Please Forgive Me" / "You've Been Gone So Long" (1954)
• "Never Let Me Go" / "Burley Cutie" [Instrumental] (1954)
• "Pledging My Love" / "Anymore" (on 78rpm) / "No Money" (on 45rpm) (1955) #1 on U.S. R&B Chart for 10 weeks, peaked at #17 on U.S. Pop Chart
• "Anymore" / "How Can You Be So Mean" (1955)
• "So Lonely" / "I'm So Crazy, Baby" (1956)
• "Don't You Know" / "I Still Love You So" (1956)

Albums[link]

Studio albums and compilations containing only/mostly Johnny Ace material

• Johnny Ace Memorial Album Duke (1955)
• Johnny Ace: Pledging My Love Universal Special Products (1986)
• Johnny Ace: The Complete Duke Recordings Geffen (2004)
• Blues & Rhythm Series: The Chronological Johnny Ace 1951-1954 Classics (2005)
• Johnny Ace: Essential Masters Burning Fire (digital download) (2008)

Notes and references[link]

• Rolling Stone, Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll. New York: 1995. ISBN 0-684-81044-1
• Dafydd Rees and Luke Crampton. Rock Movers and Shakers. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1991. ISBN 0-87436-661-5
• Rock On: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock n' Roll: The Solid Gold Years: 1974, 1982: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, Harper & Row: New York, New York; ISBN 0-06-181642-6: p001.

External links[link]

• Hip-O biography
• Find-A-Grave gravestone